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Topic: Schwarzbier recipe check (Read 3403 times)

I had a Kulmbacher Mönchshof Schwarzbier last night and really want to make a black lager. I put together a recipe loosely based on Kai's. Any suggestions would be helpful since this is a new style for me.

Question: Is this the type of beer for which the Carafa is just a color addition or should I be aiming to get some flavor out of it too? If it's the former, I'll likely just add it after the mash but prior to mashout.

I've only had a few of the examples on the guidelines but there is a roasted flavor present, it just not quite a porter. Look at JZ's recipie, it has carafa, chocolate malt and roasted barley in it. It's probably more roasty than it should be but still must be good and won some awards.

Thanks for the suggestions, Malticulous -- I'll definitely keep them in mind. If I were to add more Munich, do you think I should increase the amount of light and dark munich proportionally? Or do you think one should be favored over the other?

The roast in Schwarzbiers ranges from non existent (brewed with dark crystal) to the level you find in a Porter. I think the best ones have a hint of roast. The kind of gentle roast that you get from dehusked Carafa.

The roast in Schwarzbiers ranges from non existent (brewed with dark crystal) to the level you find in a Porter. I think the best ones have a hint of roast. The kind of gentle roast that you get from dehusked Carafa.

Kai

+1

I like the supporting role of the roastiness in a Schwarty. I like it on the smoother side of the spectrum, but that's just me. I agree in that the better examples have only a hint of roast. Too much roast only muddies the water and takes away from the beauty of this fine German Lager.

Thanks for the suggestions, Malticulous -- I'll definitely keep them in mind. If I were to add more Munich, do you think I should increase the amount of light and dark munich proportionally? Or do you think one should be favored over the other?

I like Global Dark Munich. 10-20% of it adds a lot of deep malt flavor to any beer.

I really enjoy exploring this style, and make at least one every winter. On Jan 6, I ventured forth again. This time I decided to push the limits of the style because my previous versions were ridiculously smooth (in a good way, of course ;-)

After looking at JZ's recipe, I went with 8 oz cara III special and 4 oz choc 375. Now as if that weren't risky enough for a 5-gallon batch of schwarzbier, I also had a mistaken impression of my water chemistry. It has far more mineral content than the six year old city water report (Ann Arbor) documents, as evidenced by the Ward Labs report I received just two days ago.

I sampled my schwarzier last night.

Stout.

Argh. Too much work for a stout!

Eh, well, I guess I don't have to bother lagering it now. Although I probably will as I'm curious if it smooths out some. But it's just too much roast. Lesson learned. The presence of roast barley in JZ's recipe is curious to me, but then I should research the style more, in situ of course.

Just updating this thread to add some tasting notes. The schwarzbier turned out fantastic! It's got a nice clean malt character with just an appropriate amount of roastiness (definitely not a stout level of roast character). The only thing I think I could improve on is getting more of that sort of raisin-like character that Kulmbacher Mönchshof has. At least, that's what I identify with a schwarzbier since it's really the only commercial example I've had. Other than that, this recipe is a winner. Will definitely brew again.

Thanks for the update Matt, I'll have to put this recipe or a facsimile thereof on the rotation next winter.

FWIW, the recipe I alluded to above is in the keg now and it turned out to be one of those "in between" beers, I think. Too heavy for a schwarzbier, but too clean to be a good stout or a porter. Very drinkable but not satisfying to me. It was roughly 2.1% choc, 5.4% carafa (III mostly, some II), 12% caramber or caramunich, 4.5% melanoidin, and the rest base. The roast covered up all underlying malt complexity and it ended up a bit one dimensional.

What's interesting though is I drained off the first five gallons to make the "unsatisfying" schwarzbier already mentioned. I left the other five gallons to boil down to an OG of 62 (vs. 51), and pitched it with the WL Zurich (Samiclaus) yeast. That ended up excellent! Perhaps a bit "light" on the Baltic Porter scale, but a wonderful version for my taste (that likes to have two of everything). I'm very happy with that experiment.

As the last dark lager of the season I made a version of a Bohem Dunkel based on Horst Dornbusch's U Fleku clone; I just backed off the caramunich to 11% and upped the munich and carafa. It is in primary and tastes promising.... his recipe is here: